Will, Idea, Empowerment

Spinoza's definition of Circle--the figure described by drawing in which one end is fixed and the other end free--both formulates what a circle is, and explains how to produce one. Hence, it is an empowering idea, but not because it somehow imparts energy to the muscles that perform the drawing. Rather, as has been previously discussed here, it empowers because it facilitates the exercise of Will by supplying indefinite Motility with determinacy. There is nothing arcane about this analysis; to the contrary, as is plain from its formulation, the definition is first and foremost a definition of the drawing of a circle, i. e. it imparts determinacy to a presupposed physiological process.